Newsletter – Spring/Summer 2012
We are pleased to present of our latest newsletter. You can download a copy here, but should you prefer a hard copy please use the contact form to let us know.
The current edition of our newsletter includes a review of Margaret Atwood’s latest book, details of relevant forthcoming conferences, reports on two recent conferences and much more.
If you would like to be kept updated about the PG CWWN and its events, please join our mailing list.
Postgraduate PG CWWN/CWWA Bursary Winner
In late 2011, PG CWWN and the Contemporary Women’s Writing Association (CWWA) advertised a travel bursary for a postgraduate aiming to present a paper at the Fourth Biennial International Conference of the CWWA, ‘(Wo)man and the Body’, at the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan in July 2012. We received many accomplished applications and interesting abstracts, proving that there is much engaging postgraduate research in this area.
All decisions have now been communicated and we are pleased to announce that the winner of the PG CWWN/CWWA Postgraduate Bursary is Renata Dalmaso, a PhD student at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil. She will present a paper entitled ‘Queering the Gendered Body: Performances of Masculinity and Femininity in Alison Bechdel’s Graphic Memoir Fun Home’.
PG CWWN invite abstract submissions for this half day symposium at the University of Oxford.
Sisters in Verse: Contemporary Women’s Poetry
A half day symposium at the University of Oxford
Friday 9th March 2012
Keynote Panel Discussion: Kate Clanchy, Sophie Mayer & Jane Yeh
Adrienne Rich once stated that ‘the connections between and among women are the most feared, the most problematic, and the most potentially transforming force on the planet’. This symposium aims to interrogate what these connections between women make possible in contemporary poetry. Given that a woman currently holds the British laureateship, we have clearly come some distance from deriding the ‘poetess’; this event seeks to evaluate recent transformations. From sisterhood and solidarity between recent generations of poets, to flat refusals to call one’s self a ‘woman poet’, there are many themes to discuss at this half day symposium.
Topics may include (but are not limited to):
- Feminist poetics and écriture féminine
- Protest poetry
- Generational influence and anxiety
- The development of twentieth century and post- millennial women’s poetry
- The women of the ‘Next Generation Poets’ promotion
- All-female anthologies and accusations of self- ghettoization
- Relations between poets from different backgrounds
- Female laureateships; the journey from ‘poetess’ to poet laureate
Abstracts should be sent to women@pgcwwn.org by 17th February 2012.
PG CWWN invite abstract submissions for this half day symposium at Queen’s University, Belfast.
‘Queer Sisterhoods’ in Contemporary Women’s Writing
A half-day symposium at Queen’s University Belfast.
29th February 2012.
Keynote speaker: Dr. Tina O’Toole
Emma Donoghue’s recent work Inseparable: Desire between Women in Literature seeks to trace the portrayal of female desire from medieval times. Passion has been marked by ‘excess, infraction, deviance. From the very beginnings of literature, women who desire other women tend to rampage across the boundaries of the acceptable’. This half-day symposium seeks to investigate how women interact with other women in contemporary literature. To what extent do friendships between women remain transgressive? How have depictions of female passion changed? How is identity mediated by sexuality?
Topics may include but are by no means limited to:
· Literary relationships between women
· Constructions of femininity
· Censorship and publication
· Transgender and identity politics
· Popular culture and queer theory
· Friendship and desire
· Local and national aspects of sexuality
Abstracts should be sent to women@pgcwwn.org by 10th February 2012.
The Contemporary Women’s Writing Association and the Postgraduate Contemporary Women’s Writing Network are delighted to announce a competition for two bursaries of £500 to give a paper at the Fourth Biennial International Conference of the CWWA, ‘(Wo)Man and the Body’ at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan on 11-13th July 2012.
The bursaries are funded jointly by the CWWA and PGCWWN and will be awarded to one postgraduate student and one early career researcher (not in full-time employment). Applicants are required to be a member of the CWWA and are requested to submit the following information by 30th December 2011:
• An extended abstract of the proposed paper (1000 words)
• A personal statement detailing applicant’s relevant experience and research interests and the reasons for conference attendance (500 words)
• An up-to-date C.V.
The competition will be judged by the Executive Committee of the CWWA and the Steering Group of the PGCWWN. The outcome of the competition will be announced by 30th January 2012. The successful candidate for the postgraduate bursaries will be expected to produce a conference report for the PGCWWN website/newsletter.
Applications and/or further enquiries should be submitted via email to Dr Susan Watkins (S.Watkins@leedsmet.ac.uk) and Dr Helen Davies (H.C.Davies@leedsmet.ac.uk).
Thanks from the Steering Group
Our biennial conference ‘Time and Space in Contemporary Women’s Writing’ is now over. The Steering Group wish to say a huge thank you to all the delegates and keynotes for contributing to a stimulating two days. We (as well as our keynote speakers) were very impressed with the quality of your papers and with the friendly atmosphere you brought to the event.
We will be in touch in due course with details regarding the planned conference proceedings – please do bear with us while we agree on a strategy and appropriate deadlines. Some photographs from the event can be found on this website.
It was a pleasure to meet you all and we hope to see you at the next PG CWWN event!
Newsletter – Autumn 2011
To coincide with our ‘Time & Space in Contemporary Women’s Writing’ conference we are pleased to present the fourth issue of our newsletter. You can download a copy at this link, but should you prefer a hard copy please use the contact form to let us know.
This issue of our newsletter includes Dr Helen Davies on the trials of being an early career researcher, book reviews of poetry and drama, reports from recent conferences, comment from Dr Susan Watkins, Chair of the Contemporary Women’s Writing Association, and much more.
If you would like to be kept updated about the PG CWWN and its events, please join our mailing list.
We look forward to welcoming delegates to the University of Hull on the 8th September for our two day biennial conference. As well as our two keynote speakers, Professor Ann Heilmann and Gwyneth Lewis, the conference will feature 37 papers by postgraduate and early career researchers in contemporary women’s writing.
To find out more about the papers scheduled, read titles and full abstracts, download the conference programme.
Alternatively, click below to read the paper titles.
New Steering Group Members
Following our call for new steering group members, PG CWWN looks forward to welcoming the following new members to the group.
Catherine McGurren is based at Queen’s University, Belfast and is completing a thesis on the subaltern figure of the Fallen Woman in contemporary Irish fiction. She has extensive experience in running grassroots events with Belfast Feminist Network and is the editor of Postgraduate Voice magazine at Queen’s.
Cecily R. Davey is researching the novels of Hélène Cixous at the University of St. Andrew’s. To PG CWWN she brings her experience of organizing a two day symposium on ‘Virginia Woolf in the 21st Century’, and co-ordinating the St. Andrew’s English Postgraduate Forum and Feminist Society.
Cecily and Catherine officially join the steering group following our forthcoming ‘Time & Space in Contemporary Women’s Writing’ conference. At that time, long serving members Nadine Muller and Theresa Jamieson will stand down.
Commiserations to the other applicants for steering group positions. We hope we can involve you all with our future activities in other ways.
Newsletter – Spring/Summer 2011
We are pleased to present the third issue of our newsletter. You can download a copy at this link, but should you prefer a hard copy please use the contact form to let us know.
The current edition of our newsletter includes an introduction to Gwyneth Lewis, a keynote speaker at our third biennial conference, ‘Time & Space in Contemporary Women’s Writing’, which will be held at the University of Hull on 8th and 9th September 2011, a series of book reviews, a report on World Book Night, a comment from Dr Susan Watkins, Chair of the CWWA (Contemporary Women’s Writing Association), and much more.
If you would like to be kept updated about the PG CWWN and its events, please join our mailing list.
